new art studio
I have reconfigured my studio yet again, and have hung a bunch of new pieces to offer during tomorrow’s live sale.
If you see anything in this post that you like, or if any of the things from earlier this week call to you, let me know before 4 p.m. EDT tomorrow (July 19th), so I can pull it for you! Below are just SOME of the items that will be on offer tomorrow! Click on any to see pricing and further information.
To pick up on the post title: "When you should be getting ready for the Pitman Craft Show," but instead, you spend your morning cleaning your entire studio and bringing new furniture in. The table you see in the top left photo below was just a pile of lumber yesterday morning, and my wonderful sweetheart spent the afternoon turning that wood into the table you see. I love it--and him--so much! We carried the table in yesterday, and this morning it sparked me to clear and clean the room, including washing the canvas tarp that I use under the table I paint on in the center of the room. This new studio gives me so much joy. I love having my own space to work and dream, and a place to hang my art and my vision boards. This room feels like freedom, in so many ways.
The cart to the right of my teal cart came in from the garage today. It moved here with me, and was sort of taking up space but not really functioning well out in the corner of the garage. Now it's holding all my stamping supplies, pastels (soft/chalk and oil), watercolors, oil sticks, gelatos (sadly not the ice cream variety, though I *think* I have some in the freezer), and other non-acrylic media. And as the bottom right photo above shows, an Ikea rack also came in from the garage where it was being under-utilized (and now houses a lot of canvases and other supplies).
I'm super thrilled with the studio, especially now that it's starting to take better shape, but it did pretty much derail my day by tiring me out. I've spent the afternoon working on writing better copy for the products listed for sale on my website. The greeting cards, hot air balloons and sailboats are done! I'm just over halfway through the tambourines and collages shop, and am taking a break from writing copy to write this blog post. LOL!
I will be taking greeting cards, hot air balloons, sailboats, tambourines, collage hearts (not even posted in my shop yet!) and a few literary collages with me this weekend to the Pitman Spring Craft Show. I'll be in space X151, at the corner of Theatre Avenue and Broadway. The Craft Show is scheduled for Saturday, May 19th, though there's unsettled weather in the forecast at present, so there's an outside chance I'll be selling things on Sunday instead. (I'll know for sure on Friday.) Whenever it is, I sure hope to see some friendly faces--and sell a lot of items!
My husband Morris and I booked a trip to Sedona a while back, blithely assuming that our construction project would be done by now (it was supposed to start in early January, but with 18" of frost in the ground . . . ). Our excellent builders managed to work around our absence, though, so we came home to an insulated, dry-walled space despite being away. More on the space in the next post!
We arrived in Sedona late Tuesday afternoon and settled into the AirBnB we'd booked: a bedroom in a log home. The hosts run this particular location like an actual bed & breakfast, with us having access to a downstairs bedroom and exclusive use of the nearby bathroom, and with excellent breakfasts each morning. Plus snacks in our room, bottled water and iced tea, and a nice bottle of wine. And a hot tub. Bliss.
Inside Lower Antelope Canyon, in Page, Arizona
On Wednesday, we drove three hours north, skirting the edge of the Grand Canyon to get to to Page, Arizona, where we saw the dam that makes Lake Powell and grabbed lunch before joining our Navajo guide to visit Lower Antelope Canyon. It's a slot canyon that is absolutely gorgeous in all respects due to the workings of water and wind. And we have so many fantastic photos, and none of them completely do justice to the place.
We ended our trip with dinner at Criollo on San Francisco Street in Flagstaff: shrimp tacos for Morris, pork belly tacos for me. Super delicious, as they are part of the SLO movement: sustainable, local, and organic. The food was so so good.
A twisted juniper tree in a vortex area on Bell Rock.
Our Thursday was pretty evenly split between hiking (interspersed with meditation, tai chi, and qigong) the Bell Rock trail, where there are many energy vortices, and shopping in town. We love hiking out there, and I'm guessing we'd be far more outdoorsy if we lived there. Despite air temps in the 60s, it was sunny and warm enough to not need coats or even sweaters during our hike, so we upped our Vitamin D levels a bit while hiking and then while walking through town. Most of our time in town was us browsing through art galleries to see what we could see, think about pricing, and so forth. So. Much. Fun. And we finished the day in the hot tub, looking at the Milky Way and spotting the occasional shooting star.
Spotted on a t-shirt at the Artists Cooperative in Jerome, AZ.
On Friday, we went to Jerome for the day: a ghost town, a former copper mining town, now full of galleries and cute shops and restaurants and bars. We visited the Hill Top Deli (great sandwiches!) and saw lots of art, chatted with gallery owners, and I even bought a wee painting by Michele Cokl Naylor, which I will put in my studio this weekend. Until then, the painting is wrapped up.
Beautiful even in the rain.
Saturday was a rainy one, but still lovely. And Sunday was a full day of travel, between driving, flying, the time change, and the time zone change. And when we came home, we found a cat who was happy to have us home, a closer-to-done addition, and our very own bed.
This week was taken up with lots of construction work. As a person with a couple of autoimmune disorders, I usually sleep until about 9 a.m. most days, but that wasn't a possibility this week, as I had to be up before 8 four out of 5 days, and the fifth day, I had to be up at 8.
But look! They framed my new studio! And put a roof on! And even managed a bit of Tyvek and an installed window (ahead of a rather wet and wild Nor'easter)!
See my sweetheart in the grey, talking to the project manager?
Despite all the NOISE NOISE NOISE NOISE (that's me, channeling the Grinch), I managed to get some work done.
In fact, I did so many boat collages that I can offer you a boat show!
The 8"x10" boat pieces are going to be priced at $80 and the 11"x14" ones will be $100. Holler out if you spy one that you want!
You guys! Things are getting real around here. I woke up this morning to the sound of men's voices in my backyard. (Which was unexpected and mildly startling, but anyway . . . ) It was the contractor and the masons, here to start digging the foundation and footings for my new art studio.
Can you see Miss Kismet in the window, supervising?
By the end of the work day, the footings were dug and most of the dirt they removed was carted away. Next up, an inspection . . . and (if all goes as expected) the foundation will be poured on Wednesday
And, um, hey - if you have been looking at my work and would like to help me out by clearing some space before they remove those glass doors and I have to clear half of my living room, just give me a holler. You can see a lot of the available pieces here on my website - three different galleries: one for paintings, one for literary collages, and one for art tambourines.
Here in southern New Jersey, the light has started to grow a bit each day since the Winter Solstice, though the Arctic air has swept down upon us and looks to stay for another week or so, with the winter months still to come.
The view into the back yard during last week's snow. Note that the patio closest to the house has been torn up in advance of construction of my new art studio.
It's no longer snowy here, but it's so cold that I've taken to wearing fingerless gloves much of the day and drinking lots of hot tea to keep warm. We have heat, of course, but I don't see the need for us to crank it super high, and cold manages to seep in through the slab, I suppose.
Tea time
I am loving this beautiful mug, which was a gift from my older daughter.
I have responded to the cold in my art as you might expect: by using warm and/or bright colors. I recently completed my Buddha painting, as you can see below, and have started working on some tambourines (art that makes noise!) and a large canvas full of brightness.
Acrylic paints and glazes on 24" square canvas.
Acrylic paints and inks on 24"x36" canvas.
Construction on our addition is likely to occur in January, once this cold snap breaks. Our permits have been issued, and we are excited to get underway, though I confess to dreading the noise and commotion that is sure to accompany it. But it will be a delight to have a designated studio space, and to allow us an uncluttered living room.
This week, I've been working on business planning for 2018. It includes creating some new pieces for Valentine's Day, and hopes for several different in-person sorts of sales events in addition to my website.
Hygge (pronounced hue-gah) is the Danish word for the idea of inside winter coziness - you know the sort of thing: warm socks, afghans, fires in the fireplaces, and snuggling. It's like hunkering down, but perhaps without the sort of isolated bunker-mentality that sometimes elicits. As you can see from the photo below, my cat Kismet has this down to an art form:
Autumn - overlooked my knitting -
Speaking of art forms (were we not?), I've been making slow progress on some larger pieces as well as on a few literary collages. Above is one that I completed not long ago - it features text from an Emily Dickinson poem, "Autumn--overlooked my knitting--". It's now available in the "Literary Collage" section on my website, if you're interested, at a cost of $150. (25% off from now until end of December.)
Ooh!
These are actual building plans.
For a brand-new art studio here at my house.
In this season of hygge, I am about to endure weeks of daily assault on my quiet and sanity. On the plus side, in the end, I'm going to have a wonderful new art studio to work in. In the meantime, I'm going to have to move a lot of . . . STUFF . . . in our current living room in order to safeguard it from the work area. And that means I'd really, truly like to sell some finished art. Not just to make money (though who doesn't like money), but because our relatively small house is going to be really hard to navigate if I have to move all this artwork into the hallway and other rooms.
Why not add to the feeling of hygge in your home by adding some new artwork, while I'm unable to enjoy much of the quite and cozy for a while?
